Rough Finish

Everyone I've talked to this week, is soo ready for school to just be done.

This week, we abruptly ended 4th and 7th grade math. Sometimes in homeschooling, you have to discern when something's working and when it's not. Now, I don't know what that does to a person for their future. Does it teach them that you don't have to finish a project?

Another article that I read from The Heart of the Matter online, got me on a rabbit trail to this site and blog. It's more for homeschooling high school. A line caught my eye, it had 13 years old and attitude in it. So, I thought I better go look.
Basically, what I got out of it was that, sometimes they are not motivated by things they don't like. That you could let the student choose (within reason) their own curriculum from, say 3 choices.
That totally challenged MY love of Tapestry of Grace and Apologia science. Besides, I've already purchased them.

We still have about 11 weeks of TOG3 left. N(13) has already read the spine books for TOG4 (the twentieth century.) He keeps asking when are we gonna study such-and-such. He's got the 8 year old asking about the Great Depression.

Also over the course of this school year, I have flip flopped about what to do with summer. First I said NO summer break, ever again. We did summer break last year and the chaos that ensued was bad. Bad chaos. Bad summer break.

N got wind of that and moaned, "Please...if I finish math? if I finish science?" OK, I told him. We mapped out a plan to finish. Besides we've got 4 weeks of camp coming up. One week in June and two weeks in July for N; and one for Q in July. What kind of consistency are we gonna have? None.

Now, I'm thinking...I already bought curriculum. No way can I spend more on curriculum of N's choice. But he DOES want to start on the 20th century. We can do this. I've already put an end to Saxon and he's enjoying Teaching Textbooks. He seems to be enjoying science at the moment. Maybe I can convince some of my IRL hsing buddies with 8th graders-to-be to co-op physical science. I know N would like that very much. (Hint hint Ms. S)

Then, there are habits that I know need to be instilled. One thing at a time, right?